Chapter 713 - 368: Disregarding Right and Wrong

Chapter 713: Chapter 368: Disregarding Right and Wrong

Great-grandfather looked a little awkward but forced himself to remain calm. "It’s because your grandfather is gone that we have to look after you more. Whether we’re close or not, we’re all part of the Zhang family..."

Zhang Huai refused to entertain his nonsense and continued to press, "My grandfather has been gone for a long time. Why haven’t any of you ’grandfathers’ come to look after us all these years? You didn’t come to look after us when we were so poor we didn’t have a penny to our name. You didn’t come to look after us when we were a lone family being bullied. To be honest, I didn’t even remember we had such distant relatives. It was only after my father told me that I learned our family wasn’t just some outsiders with a different surname—that we actually have clan kin."

Great-grandfather had started off scolding him with righteous confidence, but now that Zhang Huai had steered the conversation here, he found his own conviction wavering. He tried to bring it back around, "No matter what, when elders lecture you, it’s for your own good. It was wrong of you to throw people out. You’re a learned man..."

Huai Zi cut him off. "My studies taught me the meaning of righteousness and reason. In all matters, nothing is more important than principle. ’The poor are ignored even in a bustling city, while the rich have distant relatives visit them in the deep mountains’—that’s how most people in the world are, and fine, so be it. But for you to meddle in my family’s affairs is something no one can tolerate. Is it because you see that Yangzi has become a Scholar that you think you can control us?"

His words struck a nerve. The old men, humiliated, grew angry. Grandpa Wu’s face turned purple with rage. "If we didn’t see you as our closest kin, who would bother with your affairs? You’re ungrateful, and you still..."

Huai Zi, unhurried, cut him off again. "In the ten-plus years since my grandfather died, none of you ’grandfathers’ have ever bothered with us. Even when my grandfather was alive, you rarely visited. So we never dared to expect anything from you."

He clung stubbornly to this point, leaving Great-grandfather so angry he was at a loss for what to do.

’It was true, though. What family didn’t have distant relatives like them? Of course, no one paid you any mind when you were poor, but they’d cozy up once you made a fortune. Wasn’t that perfectly common? And now this damn kid was seizing on this point, trying to disown them. Hmph!’

He slammed his hand on the table, his beard bristling and eyes glaring. "You’re just a junior who doesn’t know what’s good for him! I’m not talking to you. Go get your father!"

Seeing they had no intention of backing down, Huai Zi’s face turned cold as well. "Great-grandfather, you must have a lot of free time. Why not take some pity on us, then? We’re working ourselves to death, only to be called up from the fields to be scolded. If my grandfather saw this, I’m afraid he wouldn’t be able to rest in peace. If he hadn’t passed away so early, we wouldn’t have people coming to our door to bully us like this. Even with a Scholar in the family, we get no respect. People think they can twist us and mold us however they please, telling someone to divorce his wife and take a concubine at the drop of a hat. I wonder what the people in the surrounding villages would think if they heard about this."

The three men were alarmed by his words. They certainly didn’t want a reputation for disrespecting a scholar, but they didn’t want to give up either. At this point, they themselves were a bit confused about what they were even arguing for.

Great-grandfather considered this for a moment, then said, "Your Fifth Granny was a bit muddled when she spoke that day, but her heart was in the right place, and she meant well for you. Since you’re not happy about it, we’ll just drop the matter. All this bickering will only make us a laughingstock for outsiders. Even if you’re angry, you shouldn’t have taken it out on your Grandpa Wu..."

Huai Zi had reached the end of his patience. He felt that trying to reason with these people was sheer torture. They completely twisted right and wrong, and if he wasn’t careful, their convoluted logic would confuse him.

He cut Great-grandfather off once more. "It’s not us who want to bring this up; it’s you who won’t let it go. On the day of the baby’s one-month celebration, Fifth Granny brought it up, and my mother refused her. The next day, Grandpa Wu and Seventh Grandfather rushed over to bring it up again, and we ignored them. And today, Great-grandfather, you’ve brought people here to bring it up yet again. Isn’t it obvious what’s happening? Is this how elders are supposed to teach us juniors?"

Great-grandfather just stared at him, speechless. He felt there was no getting through to this boy. Even if every word Huai Zi said was true, he still found it intolerable. ’When I speak at home, which of my grandsons or granddaughters would dare talk back like this? So what if I’m right? So what if I’m wrong? Right and wrong don’t matter! When an elder speaks, you’re supposed to listen obediently. I’m a grandfather, after all!’

For a moment, the two of them just stared at each other, each looking at the other as if he were some kind of monster. The room fell silent.

Inside the room, Juhua was listening intently to the conversation outside. ’So this is what feudal patriarchal authority looks like,’ she thought. ’I’ve never had the chance to see it up close before.’ She was puzzled. ’Never mind my own family, but why aren’t my maternal grandmother’s family or Huai Zi’s maternal grandmother’s family like this? Thinking about it, among all our relatives, only my old great-aunt has a bit of this air about her, but at least she’s still reasonable. These men outside are completely unreasonable.’

She walked to the window and pushed it open. Seeing Pu Pao washing diapers by the well, she called out softly, "Pu Pao!"

It took several calls before Pu Pao heard her. She quickly wiped her hands on her apron, ran to the base of the window, and stood on her tiptoes, grabbing the sill. "Young Madam," she whispered, "what is it?"